Smiso Msomi
Royal AM 0
Cape Town Spurs (0) 1
Kamagi 64
Cape Town Spurs kept their slim hopes of Premiership survival alive with a hard-fought 1-0 win over Royal AM at the Harry Gwala Stadium on Tuesday night.
The Urban Warriors moved to within five points of 15th-placed Richards Bay on the DStv Premiership standings with three games of the season remaining. Thwihli Thwahla on the other hand, suffered their third defeat in a row as their Top 8 chances dropped by a huge percentage.
Following a tight first half, it was the visitors who broke the deadlock through a Gabriel Michael penalty halfway through the second half. The Tanzanian-born defender stepped up to power his shot home, following a period of pressure for the visitors.
The permutations and irony of possible relegation at the same venue where they gained their promotion, might have been in the back of Spurs mind heading to Pietermaritzburg.
Spurs head coach Ernsts Middendorp would've known that nothing short of a victory would halt their imminent relegation for at least another few days.
In his pre-match discussions, the German tactician suggested that he might prepare his team for life in the second division already as he deployed six under-23 players in his starting eleven.
Even though Royal AM were chasing their top-eight aspirations, it was Spurs who were unsurprisingly more desperate in their approach in the first half.
Looking to affect the game with a physical presence, Middendorp made two changes at half-time, introducing Rushwin Dortley and Colin Ryan for Thato Mokeke and Jarrod Moroole, the pair playing a significant part in getting the solitary goal.
Spurs will now await the match between Richards Bay and Polokwane City on Wednesday to find out if their win will have any significant part to play in the bigger state of things.
